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Book Description
The God Delusion caused a sensation when it was published in 2006. Within weeks it became the most hotly debated topic, with Dawkins himself branded as either saint or sinner for presenting his hard-hitting, impassioned rebuttal of religion of all types.
His argument could hardly be more topical. While Europe is becoming increasingly secularized, the rise of religious fundamentalism, whether in the Middle East or Middle America, is dramatically and dangerously dividing opinion around the world.
In America, and elsewhere, a vigorous dispute between 'intelligent design' and Darwinism is seriously undermining and restricting the teaching of science. In many countries religious dogma from medieval times still serves to abuse basic human rights such as women's and gay rights.
And all from a belief in a God whose existence lacks evidence of any kind. Dawkins attacks God in all his forms. He eviscerates the major arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religion fuels war, foments bigotry and abuses children.
The God Delusion is a brilliantly argued, fascinating polemic that will be required reading for anyone interested in this most emotional and important subject.
"A very important book, especially in these times... a magnificent book, lucid and wise, truly magisterial " -- Ian McEwan "Written with all the clarity and elegance of which Dawkins is a master. It should have a place in every school library - especially in the library of every "faith" school" -- Philip Pullman "A resounding trumpet blast for truth... It feels like coming up for air" -- Matt Ridley "A spirited and exhilarating read... Dawkins comes roaring forth in the full vigour of his powerful arguments, laying into fallacies and false doctrines with the energy of the polemicist at his most fiery" -- Joan Bakewell Guardian "This is my favourite book of all time... a heroic and life-changing work" -- Derren Brown
| Preface | p. 1 |
| A Deeply Religious Non-Believer | p. 9 |
| Deserved respect | p. 11 |
| Undeserved respect | p. 20 |
| The God Hypothesis | p. 29 |
| Polytheism | p. 32 |
| Monotheism P37 | |
| Secularism, the Founding Fathers and the religion of America | p. 38 |
| The poverty of agnosticism | p. 46 |
| NOMA | p. 54 |
| The Great Prayer Experiment | p. 61 |
| The Neville Chamberlain school of evolutionists | p. 66 |
| Little green men | p. 69 |
| Arguments for God"s Existence | p. 75 |
| Thomas Aquinas" "proofs" | p. 77 |
| The ontological argument and other a priori arguments | p. 80 |
| The argument from beauty | p. 86 |
| The argument from personal "experience" | p. 87 |
| The argument from scripture | p. 92 |
| The argument from admired religious scientists | p. 97 |
| Pascal"s Wager | p. 103 |
| Bayesian arguments | p. 105 |
| Why There Almost Certainly is no God | p. 111 |
| The Ultimate Boeing 747 | p. 113 |
| Natural selection as a consciousness-raiser | p. 114 |
| Irreducible complexity | p. 119 |
| The worship of gaps | p. 125 |
| The anthropic principle: planetary version | p. 134 |
| The anthropic principle: cosmological version | p. 141 |
| An interlude at Cambridge | p. 151 |
| The Roots of Religion | p. 161 |
| The Darwinian imperative | p. 163 |
| Direct advantages of religion | p. 166 |
| Group selection | p. 169 |
| Religion as a by-product of something else | p. 172 |
| Psychologically primed for religion | p. 179 |
| Tread softly, because you tread on my memes | p. 191 |
| Cargo cults | p. 202 |
| The Roots of Morality: Why Are we Good? | p. 209 |
| Does our moral sense have a Darwinian origin? | p. 214 |
| A case study in the roots of morality | p. 222 |
| If there is no God, why be good? | p. 226 |
| The "Good" Book and the Changing Moral Zeitgeist | p. 235 |
| The Old Testament | p. 237 |
| Is the New Testament any better? | p. 250 |
| Love thy neighbour | p. 254 |
| The moral Zeitgeist | p. 262 |
| What about Hitler and Stalin? Weren"t they atheists? | p. 272 |
| What"s Wrong with Religion? Why be so Hostile? | p. 279 |
| Fundamentalism and the subversion of science | p. 282 |
| The dark side of absolutism | p. 286 |
| Faith and homosexuality | p. 289 |
| Faith and the sanctity of human life | p. 291 |
| The Great Beethoven Fallacy | p. 298 |
| How "moderation" in faith fosters fanaticism | p. 301 |
| Childhood, Abuse and the Escape from Religion | p. 309 |
| Physical and mental abuse | p. 315 |
| In defence of children | p. 325 |
| An educational scandal | p. 331 |
| Consciousness-raising again | p. 337 |
| Religious education as a part of literary culture | p. 340 |
| A Much Needed Gap? | p. 345 |
| Binker | p. 347 |
| Consolation | p. 352 |
| Inspiration | p. 360 |
| The mother of all burkas | p. 362 |
| Appendix: A partial list of friendly addresses, for individuals needing support in escaping from religion | p. 375 |
| Books cited or recommended | p. 380 |
| Notes | p. 388 |
| Index | p. 400 |
| Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved. |
ISBN: 9780552773317
ISBN-10: 055277331X
Audience:
General
Format:
Paperback
Language:
English
Number Of Pages: 464
Published: November 2007
Dimensions (cm): 19.9 x 13.1
x 3.0
Weight (kg): 0.316
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